A Quarter of Households Worldwide Now Have Wireless Home NetworksPosted: 05-Apr-2012 [Source: Strategy Analytics]

[Strategy Analytics reports the U.S. ranks eighth in number of wireless household networks following South Korea, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, and Italy.]

Boston -- Wireless home networks are now commonplace in many global markets, according to new research from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service, “Broadband and Wi-Fi Households Global Forecast 2012.” By the end of 2011, 439 million households worldwide had installed home Wi-Fi networks, equivalent to 25 percent of all households. This report predicts that the total worldwide number of Wi-Fi households will reach nearly 800 million in 2016, a penetration rate of 42 percent.

Wi-Fi has become a mainstream wireless technology which provides Internet access at home to a wide variety of consumer electronics and mobile devices. Coupled with the proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, the continued expansion of broadband services provides a solid foundation for further growth in home Wi-Fi adoption. South Korea, where broadband networks are almost ubiquitous, had the highest Wi-Fi household penetration in the world in 2011. On the other hand, even though China’s Wi-Fi network penetration stood at only 25 percent in 2011, it will become the main growth driver in the global Wi-Fi home market over the next five years, adding another 110 million Wi-Fi households by 2016.

Jia Wu, Senior Analyst, Connected Home Devices, said, “Developed broadband markets are currently the leading countries in terms of Wi-Fi household penetration. However, because of its population size, China already has the highest number of Wi-Fi households in the world, followed by USA and Japan.”

Kantideep Thota, Analyst, added, “As most broadband growth will come from Asia Pacific, the bulk of Wi-Fi household growth will also will take place in China, India and other emerging Asia Pacific countries. China alone will account for 31 percent of total Wi-Fi household growth over the next five years.”